Requests to Revise Wind Turbine Regulations Tabled

December 13, 2018. Grant County News 134(20): 1, 4.

Two indicative requests to revise wind turbine regulations in Cherry County were tabled on December 4th by the Planning and Zoning Board so their language can be reviewed by the county attorney. Board members Michael McLeod and John Wheeler volunteered to attend the review session.

The first one was a continuation of a request by rancher Wayne Eatinger to repeal and replace regulations so only wind turbines with a height of 80 feet or less would be allowed in the county. The initial public hearing was at the November 6th meeting, but was then tabled to December when it was tabled again to January. This request was originally submitted in February 2018.

Though the public hearing had already occurred, additional comments by a few people present were still allowed by board chairman Herb Pabst. This was initiated by the presentation of a Stahr letter referring to the Eatinger request. The point was: if his letter is read, other people should also be allowed to present testimony.

Prior to any comments regarding the Weller request, board chairman indicated that any discussion associated with property rights would not be acceptable. “No one has property rights,” he said, including how government would take any property it would want. It has become obvious that when it comes to private property rights, some people say they have the right to place turbines on their land while others say this sort of action diminishes their property.

William Weller then introduced his request that a classification as industrial be indicated for wind turbines in clauses of the zoning regulations that now refer to commercial/utility wind turbines. This request was submitted in July by this young Cherry County rancher.
A common and shared reasoning was that wind turbines are not an agricultural use of land while Cherry county is predominantly involved with raising livestock and crop production. These points were initially raised by Craig Andresen and supported by others.

There is a common sentiment that a wind turbine facility is not a “turbine farm.”

Brent and Janet Steffen, of Thedford and Kearney, shared a perspective that wind turbines would change the Sand Hill region, visually and functionality. “We shouldn’t let greed and money take over what we are blessed with,” she said, also referring to how “wind turbines have ruined Oklahoma state,” where she grew up.

Turbines facilities planned for the county are industrial because of the planned height and extent of power produced, said Mike Young, expressing how any turbines would ruin features so important to the county residents and visitor business places such as Valentine.

One point of view expressed was whether “Cherry County will continue to be a special place,” as conveyed by Craig Miles, Brownlee. His son Caleb read supportive comments from scribbles in his small pocket notebook.

Tom Witt, Steve Moreland, Wayne Eatinger and Bob Stetter were supportive of Billy Weller’s request.

“What is done needs to make Cherry County better,” Moreland of Merriman said. His son Brock was also present and supportive. These men know sandhill country and its so essential grasslands of importance to them every year.

“What do citizens of Cherry County prefer to be done,” said Stetter, Valentine. His perspective is based upon a long-time heritage of family ranching in central Cherry county.

The stellar features of the region’s skyscape were indicated as a distinctive feature. Eve Millar referred to the annual star party at Merritt Reservoir – indicated by a just recent NET television feature – as occurring at a finest site in our nation to look at stars and a setting realized and enjoyed for many years. She indicated that despite an initial, past reluctance to speak about the future of the county viewscape, she has decided that “we cannot leave the views out” of any decision regarding wind turbines, as conveyed during her testimony at the public hearing.

Cleve Trimble has often indicated that this very same feature is a prominent reason visiting golfers so much enjoy the Sand Hills Golf Club and the Prairie Club course.

Twice during the meeting – for each zoning change request - reference was made to letters from Orvil Stahr, of Stahr and Associates of Kearney, NE. Neither letter had an indicated date when written. It was also questioned as to whether or not he has a valid contract, even though a draft, though not finalized contract was approved December 27^th by the county commissioners, via a motion made by Tanya Storer, according to known details. Another point was why any comments by this consultant could/should be accepted in a county when he may not have even been officially hired. In one letter, he referred to a citizens comments as “beliefs” and then continued in his letter with berating points how they were erroneous and unacceptable.

A few very current news reports indicate there is an impeachment effort underway by voters to remove Stahr as mayor of York, NE.
And personally, anyone that refers to raptors as raptures – as Stahr did in one of his missives – has made a huge mistake. I’ve might have had a near rapture experience while watching a golden eagle soar over the land, but this misuse of language is simply wrong and indicative of something missing when it comes time for some consultant to opine their faux reality.

Cherry County residents obviously are expressing their views on what they want, yet a trio of county commissioners has instead decided to spend at least $50,000 based upon commissioner meeting minutes. They hired someone who has already written government documents which have repeatedly been heard to not be acceptable.

About 45 people attended the December meeting, many of them area ranchers. Some drove along lengths of icy country roads to be present. There were 13 people that presented testimony on the Weller request during the public hearing from 4:30 p.m. to 5:05 p.m. No one spoke in opposition to either the Eatinger or Weller request at this meeting.

There were six zoning board members present, with one absent and two ongoing vacancies since the commissioners have been unable to find any suitable candidate(s). The current zoning administrator was also absent, which is the second time she was not present for her job, as personally known in the past two weeks. A fill-in transcriptionist was required.

This meeting was video-taped, as many others have been in recent months to make certain what was said, that being their veracity.
Once the two requests are reviewed by the county attorney, they will have to be presented at another zoning board meeting, with the public being allowed to review any changes. Another public hearing will be required.

The next zoning meeting will be January 15^th at county facilities at Valentine.

In January there will be a different mix of Cherry County commissioners that will make final decisions on any recommendations forwarded by planning and zoning. James B. Ward will replace Jim Van Winkle, a known investor in Cherry County Wind L.L.C.

Owls Hooting in the Night

There was a singularly exclusive hootenanny north of town during the early morning of December 5th. A pair of vocalists singing quite finely gave a short public presentation.

The pair of presenters did not have any sort of stage. There was no flyer or advertisement issued to indicate their appearance. No reservation was required nor would it have been accepted, and there was no place to provide free-will donations. Any buffet would have had only natural foods.

This local duo started at a time of their choice which has usually been during the wee hours of darktime while they linger at a suitable woodland venue of their choice. They are unique in their presentation, but not exclusive in ranch country.

Despite being immersed in a deep sleepy repose of this early morning time, the concerto very quickly became a time to get awake, listen and realize. The musical chords seemed to be just outside my residential walls. Some close listening ensued because it was not obvious at first whether there was one or two vocalists. Continuing to listen to this song of the night, repeatedly and with a tuned appreciation, it became obvious that two vocalists were expressing a duet in a manner most fine. Sometimes for the brief time of their presentation it was just one voice. A few times during the minutes after the 3 a.m. hour they conveyed a special repeated song together.

A throaty who-who-who in of a basic tempo were their lyrics, often in tandem and sometimes in an obvious and quick response to what was heard from their partner. These few expressions were not boring since their overall presentation was for such a short time amidst a natural setting. The pines were stolid. No limbs of the bare winter deciduous trees were shaking. Local horses were stalwart in their unmoving stance. There may have been a twinkle or two of some stars despite so many multiple nights of clouds above?

There was no sort of cost to hear this musical duo. Other members of this night band can not only be heard near the Heart City but also are a feature of some many nights at other arboreal places in the vast sandhill country.

The musical duet was by a pair of great horned owls expressing an obvious version two partners expressing to other denizens of the land their dedication of being together for the quickly approaching breeding season.

The pair heard resides near the Valentine Mill Pond and the hills to the north. It is country they have found to be suitable for their survival. Night time activities result in finding enough to survive, whether it is mice or other small mammals they get for their silent flight.

Somewhere in the vicinity is a nest where early next year they will lay some eggs in a carefully prepared nest to begin another generation of hooty owls.

They are really expressive at times and may be enjoyed by anyone wanting to listen to the unique sounds of one night or another.

Two Natural Mysteries of Late-Autumn at Valentine

Some mysteries of natural residents of the land can continue to be lesser known even after multiple years of natural history studies and published knowledge at particular places. This situation was very evident on Thanksgiving at Valentine for two notable occurrences of nature in the morning and initial hours of the night time.

During the first hours of this day’s light on a languidly nice morning of spacious blue skies with sparse winds, some blackbirds with their regular small size were seen foraging outside the big north window of my tiny, but obviously relatively larger residence. They were walking around looking for seeds on the ground in the horse pen. With a focused look through a spotting scope and with a bird-wise perspective, there was a realization that some few Rusty Blackbird were present for the first time at my local bird space. After a couple more close-up views through a spotting scope, checking bird guide details in the interim, and watching some more, the initial identity was confirmed. The blackbirds were among the many morning beauties including some Red-winged Blackbirds, numerous Dark-eyed Junco and a few Harris’s Sparrow with a distinctive plumage of such subtle beauty. An American Tree Sparrow was also at the scene eating weed seeds.

The unusual blackbirds were first seen on November 22nd and still notably present through the first several days of December. It was the 25th when they found the local seed bird buffet and took advantage of it when the big turkeys eventually decided to move elsewhere, rather than being the big birds on the block of concrete.

These few Rusty Blackbirds became one more record of rare occurrence for the Valentine vicinity and even throughout the Sand Hills. A last historic record for the area was made by the avian aficionado Marvin Vanderploeg, once a distinctive birder at his son’s property at the edge of the Niobrara Valley in late October 2017. He saw a flock outside his southward-facing bird watching window at a place now off-limits to local birders.
On another date also during the first days of November, during the same year, only one was seen at Valentine NWR by a traveling bird watcher.

Prior to the two 2017 dates, the most recent record readily available was one at rural Mud Meadow in central Cherry county, November 1996. Two records of historic importance were in late October of 1928 and then for 1919 at Fort Niobrara NWR based upon a specimen collected by Fred Dille and now kept in the University of Nebraska State Museum collection.

There has been a humongous lapse in sightings because there are so few indicative bird watchers. The available dates none-the-less do indicate times when the species found the county a suitable place to linger.

The few Rusty Blackbirds continued their presence at least through the first few days of December. They would forage for a time in the horse pen. They would perch together in a suitable bunch of trees just west of the shack. Their companions were some Red-winged Blackbirds.
Some short few hours after the day was waning on Thanksgiving, while just getting deep into the dark hours, land-based animals became phantoms in the early night just before 9 p.m. as they walked around looking for some suitable repast.

Ample moon-shine illuminated the moving-along critters initially seen as moving shadows on the ground of a grubbed horse pen. Upon looking closer, it seemed they were dogs walking about, but it was quickly realized there were some roaming coyotes; more than one. The leader of the pack quickly became obvious. At first, there were three seen. Then four together as an animal group. The groups’ leader walked about a bit and then went southward on an obvious route upon looking out the front window. It was beneath the moon’s seasonal light while going a short distance south across a horse pen, quickly through an open and soon reaching a fence barrier along the city street known as Lake Shore Drive. There was an immediate reversal in direction back northward. The other four coyotes lingered and smelled around while seemingly looking for some tasty tidbit.

The coyotes obviously were a group, being led by what must have been a mom. She seemingly decided where and when to move along through the pens, keeping the group going on their continuation of a night’s travel. This group activity had to be certainly a pattern of previous times because such an organized group movement does not occur due to one behavior.

When these furry phantoms beneath a moon-lit sky moved together through the observed open space, “mom” was in front and the youngsters were arranged behind in a suitably-spaced rectangular box of four corners with squarely-placed prominent corners, an arrangement that would seem to work well to locate small yet suitable food sources across more space.

At one or another fenced-narrowed place along their route, there was no hesitation to quickly traverse the path, one after another in line, going in the same direction.

The whole event was an obvious expression of a naturally organized group cognizant of a natural landscape terrain of pine-clad hills and growth of grasslands upon wild land terrains north of town where they have not yet been shot by some quick-trigger shootist.

Four resident horses were indifferent and didn’t move at all but kept laying around as the coyotes moved through their pasture.

If there had been a turkey or two that disappeared from the landscape – since there are plenty present at this Minnechaduza valley locality – it might have been strewn somewhere on a nearby hillside, that could have meant a holiday meal for the native carnivores. Maybe they would have expressed a post-feeding appreciation by yelping evocatively in the night as they sat together as is their way as a family and perhaps could have had a particular occurrence on some distant hill?

This might not be a cause of some change in the family activity of the roaming turkey flock, repeatedly on the scene, and so often because there is seed upon which they can feed, especially the black sunflower seeds they selectively peck away. The local rabbit is also still present and spending some time outside its shelter haven half-filled with hay bales, so it survived the visit of the carnivorous clan that kept moving as they have to find ample sustenance every day.

Thus Thanksgiving was a time at a place to appreciate and personally enjoy the Minnechaduza Creek valley of the Niobrara River watershed. Every day can provide an opportunity to look and learn about birds, wild animals, flora and natural features amidst wonder-filled lands at and around Valentine. The recent holiday was a prime example.